Demonstration in Slough 1999

It all started in 1998 when motorcyclists were suddenly getting tickets for parking in an area where motorcyclists had been parking for at least twenty years. Then, the only official motorcycle parking area was removed by the private company which owned it.

Concerned members of Windsor & District MAG wrote to the council and tried phoning them but the letters were not answered and the phone calls were not returned. In desperation, a car park demonstration was organised for December 12th 1999. This worked well, the council started talking to us, we had a productive meeting with the council, local businesses and the BMF. That was in March 1999, September came and there was no sign of any parking spaces for motorcycles. Another letter was sent but the council had gone back into its non-responsive mode so we decided to give them a kick up the bum with another demo.

This one was on the 4th of December 1999. By the day of the demo, Slough council had remembered how to work the word processor and managed to send a letter saying that the money has been allocated for the creation of parking areas and these would be going ahead in the new year.

The format of the demo was the same as last year. A group of keen motorcyclists arrived at a busy open air car park at around 8am in order to beat the Christmas shoppers. Around 20 bikes were parked, one per marked parking bay. A flyer was given out to the motorists waiting to park and we explained the situation to them. A telephone number was provided so that they could contact Slough council and air their views directly to the people responsible for the situation. Most of the motorists agreed that it was fair that we should have somewhere to park, a few people didn't agree and provided us with entertainment by wheel-spinning off or threatening to run over the bikes!

One such community spirited individual called the police, presumably on the grounds that the car park was full of motorcyclists rather than being full of cars like it should be. Obviously, being a motorcyclist must be some sort of crime in his book. The police officer arrived, asked if there had been any trouble from the public because if there was, then we should phone and let them know. The officer seemed happy that we were doing nothing illegal and in fact, seemed to be on our side! Close call, there could have been charges of "malicious parking" or similar. Luckily most of the public could see our point and some of them offered to help out in various ways.

One surprising discovery was, that it's not strictly legal to park more than one bike per parking slot. After receiving the positive letter from the council, the format of the demo was going to be changed to reduce the inconvenience to the public and demonstrate the benefits of motorcycles by parking more than one bike per bay. But a traffic warden confirmed that there could be a problem if more than one vehicle was in a marked parking bay. If anyone has more information about this then please let Windsor & District MAG know.

Windsor & District MAG will be providing a map with suggested locations for motorcycle parking as the council requested in the letter and they will be continuing to push the council on this issue. Once Slough has been cracked, maybe it'll be time to have a word with Windsor council about the lack of any motorcycle parking there? Should be fun.

Windsor & District MAG would like to thank everyone who attended at such an early hour on a cold and windy Saturday morning. Thanks.

Here's Jo talking to the people as they came to park.

Free tea and coffee was provided by 'MaxBite'.

More pictures here.
Press cutting here.

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